Confessions of a Queen B*

Untitled Part 9

"Yes, but we're seniors now, so you can stop cracking the whip. Anyway, back to hot guys. You should come to The Purple Dog with me and see the new guy working there. Without the baby, though."

The Purple Dog was a café in the U-District. Morgan liked to hang out there because it was frequented by university students and, therefore, was far more "intelligent" than the local hangouts. "What? Scared the new guy will freak out when he realizes we're still in high school?"

"Speak for yourself. I've been taking college classes since last year."

Morgan was enrolled in Running Start, a program that allowed high school students to take classes at a local community college for college credit. She liked to rub in the fact she was at college while I'd chosen to stay in high school and take AP classes to maintain my class rank. That didn't change the fact she was seventeen and needed a fake ID to even get a tattoo.

I jumped on the opportunity to talk about something other than Brett. "So tell me about him. How many piercings does he have?"

"None."

"Tattoos?" I didn't bother asking about the eyeliner, since that was usually on Morgan's list of musts.

"None that I can see."

My eyes widened. "Who are you, and what have you done with my best friend?"

She laughed. "I know, right? He's not my type, which is why I'm wondering why I'm attracted to him. But he has this cool, laid-back vibe about him that has me wondering if he's always that way in every situation. And he seemed really into me this weekend."

"Into you, or in you?" Most people who met Morgan saw her as a pessimistic, snarky goth girl who sometimes bordered on nymphomaniac. I'd lost count of how many hookups she'd had in the last year. But she handled sex with far more maturity than most people and didn't seem to form any attachments to the guys she slept with. For her, it was purely physical.

And maybe a way to get back at her ultraconservative parents.

She laughed again, a dreamy look filling her eyes as she twirled her dyed-black hair around her finger. This was the real Morgan, the one who carefully hid her inner romantic behind her tough-girl exterior. "No, not yet. But if he offered, I wouldn't say no."

"And another man falls victim to the Queen of Darkness."

"So, what are you going to do about your project partner?"

I took a deep breath to collect myself. We were back to Brett again. "I'm going to interact with him as little as possible."

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much. If it were me, I'd do him just to piss Summer off," Morgan whispered before standing up and heading toward the parking lot.

At least she'd provided me with one silver lining to all this. For the next two weeks, Brett would be working side by side with me, which would drive Summer nuts.